Outsidethe box with ABC, minister

THE EDITOR: Twenty-first century technology, via the Automated Border Control (ABC), has once again made its presence felt at Piarco International Airport. It is both a welcome and welcoming development.

By way of the ABC system, visitors and returning residents are expected to benefit from greater efficiencies regarding speed of processing and the reduction of time spent in immigration lines.

In its initial implementation, selected passengers – self included – were politely escorted to a computer station where passports were scanned, fingerprints taken, faces photographed – for identification purposes – and signatures obtained on an electronic pad.

The Government must be complimented on having implemented this technology-driven initiative. The customer-focused manner in which it was conducted must be acknowledged. Smiling and being helpful must continue to be integral parts of the welcoming process.

Destination taxi drivers who ply their trade at Piarco must be taught to maintain the pleasantries that returning residents and visitors are expected to receive at the airport. They are an integral part of the welcoming experience.

No passenger, after a seven-hour flight, should have to ask a driver to change his local radio station because of the depressing call-in topic of crime being discussed.

Rather than wait for technology to transform the ABC process, the Minister of Tourism may wish to step outside the box and create an ABC-D system of welcoming travellers who disembark at Piarco.

JOHN HENRY, Petit Valley